1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connecting apparatus for electrically connecting a semiconductor device and a printed wiring board, or more specifically to a heat dissipation mechanism of a contact constituting the electric connecting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric connecting apparatus configured to electrically connect a semiconductor device such as an integrated circuit package to a printed wiring board has had the following problem along with the complication of the configurations of semiconductor devices. When current flows through a semiconductor device having such complicated configuration, an increasing amount of heat is generated from the semiconductor device. As measures for such heat generation from the semiconductor device, a heat dissipation mechanism for dissipating heat generated in a semiconductor device has been studied in the field of electric connecting apparatuses. A conventional heat dissipation mechanism in an electric connecting apparatus is configured to dissipate heat to outside air surrounding the electric connecting apparatus by utilizing a heat sink or a dissipation fin, as disclosed n Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-059602.
On the other hand, since a large current is never applied to a contact itself that constitutes the electric connecting apparatus, heat generation from the contact itself has heretofore not been regarded as a problem. Nevertheless, the heat generation from the contact itself has to be taken into consideration as a large current is more often carried between a semiconductor device and a printed wiring board. This is because the heat generation from the contact itself may adversely affect an enclosure or components disposed around the contact. For example, consider a case where the contact increases its temperature due to the heat generation by itself up to a temperature exceeding a heatproof temperature of a contact holding plate which is configured to hold the contact and which is made of synthetic resin. In this case, it may become impossible for the contact holding plate to hold the contact.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electric connecting apparatus configured to dissipate heat generated from a contact itself via any of an insulating plate, a housing at least partially made of a material having high heat conductivity, and a set of the housing and a printed wiring board on which the housing is mounted.